The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to methods of forming gears and, more particularly, to a method and process of forming an improved gear.
Gears are used in various industrial and technological applications to permit power transmission from one rotating or translating element to another. Each gear generally includes an array of gear teeth that mesh with the gear teeth of another gear so that the rotation or translation of the first gear can be transmitted to the second gear.
Existing gears may be heavy, and in aircraft applications, the weight of the gears may impact and/or limit the payload capability and/or range of the aircraft. Previous attempts to lighten the weight of gears resulted in gears that were not sufficiently robust to operate under operational conditions. For example, the technique of shot peening has been applied to the surfaces of the gears in order to produce a compressive residual stress layer and further modify the structural properties of the materials that formed the gears. However, shot peening resulted in a depth of impact to about 0.002 inches (0.005 cm) deep, which failed to provide sufficient robustness and improved strength to the material.